EXCHANGE 


KERUBIM 


IN 


SEMITIC  RELIGION  AND  ART 


BY 
REV.  FREDERIC  N.  LINDSAY,  B.  D.,  M.  A. 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIRE- 

MENTS  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF 

PHILOSOPHY  IN  THE  FACULTY 

OF  PHILOSOPHY 

COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 


1912 


KERUBIM 


IN 


SEMITIC  RELIGION  AND  ART 


BY 
REV.  FREDERIC  N.  LINDSAY,  B.  D.,  M.A. 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIRE- 
MENTS FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF 
PHILOSOPHY  IN  THE  FACULTY 
OF  PHILOSOPHY 

COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

-  •    ' 


1912 


V 


TO   MY  WIFE 

Whose  lore  and  counsel   have  been 
among  the  choice  blessings  of  my  life. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  OLD  TESTAMENT   CONCEPTION 

What  were  the  Kerubim  f  This  is  a  problem  that  until  re- 
cently has  been  obscure  owing  to  the  want  of  the  proper  his- 
torical and  scientific  point  of  view.  Hitherto  the  discussion 
of  the  problem  has  been  largely  influenced  by  theological  bias, 
a  side  of  the  question  which  was  reserved  to  itself  by  the 
Church,  but  the  deciphering  of  the  cuneiform  texts  and  our 
resultant  increased  knowledge  from  them  has  changed  the  en- 
tire situation.  Furthermore,  the  results  of  the  science  of  Com- 
parative Religion,  largely  deduced  in  this  instance  from  the 
cuneifoiim  texts,  have  altered  our  views.  It  is  proposed  in  this 
treatise  to  trace  by  means  of  the  historical  documents  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Kerubim  ideas  and  to  endeavor  to  discover 
exactly  what  concrete  form  the  name  Kerub  awakened  in  the 
Hebrew  mind. 

A  study  of  the  O.  T.  sources  plainly  indicates  that  the  earli- 
est accounts  were  written  at  a  date  long  subsequent  to  the  times 
represented  in  the  sources.  The  oldest  narrative  in  which  is 
found  a  reference  to  the  Kerubim  is  Gen.  iii  :24.  After  having 
driven  the  first  human  pair  from  the  earthly  Paradise,  as  a 
punishment  for  their  sin,  it  is  written  that  "Yahveh  Elohim 
placed  to  the  East  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  the  Kerubim  and  the 
flaming  blade  of  the  sword  which  turns,  to  keep  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life."  Gen.  iii:24.  Probably  we  have  here,  as  scholars 
generally  believe,  two  independent  symbols — the  fiery  sword 
and  Kerubim — for  the  sword  is  one  and  the  Kerubim  are 
many ;  and  the  symbol  of  the  sword  is  represented  elsewhere,1 
as  an  independent  power,  the  ultimate  source  of  which  is  evi- 
dently the  fiery  sword  of  Gen.  iii:24.  Budde2  finds  in  the 
verses  iii  :22,  24,  the  story  of  the  'tree  of  life/  a  secondary  ver- 

1  Zeph.  ii:12;  Jer.  xlvi:10;  Isa.  xxxiv:5. 

2  Budde,  Biblische  Urgeschichte,  p.  55. 


254209 


sion  of  man's  expulsion,  which  in  origin  may  be  earlier  than 
the  longer  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden ;  its  presence,  however, 
in  Chapter  iii  seems  to  be  due  to  the  work  of  a  later  prophet. 
According  to  this  fragment,  God  sent  forth  man  from  the  gar- 
den, i.  e.,  commanded  him  to  go  forth  (drove  him  forth)  as 
he  still  lingered  or  still  stood  without  before  the  gate.  That 
every  possibility  of  his  wilfully  returning  to  the  Garden  and  to 
the  'tree  of  life'  may  be  cut  off,  he  stations  eastward  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden  the'  Kerubim,  where  as  in  an  earthly  sanctuary 
the  entrance  was.  The  Kerubim  were  not  stationed  to  dwell  in 
the  Garden,  instead  of  man,  but  to  guard  the  approach. 

No  account  is  given  of  the  appearance  of  the  Kerubim.  In 
the  height  of  the  mythological  period  no  such  account  was 
needed.  All  we  know  from  this  primitive  Hebrew  tradition 
describing  the  Kerubim  is  that  they  were  beings  of  superhuman 
power  and  devoid  of  human  sympathies,  whose  office  was  to 
drive  away  intruders  from  the  abode  of  the  gods.  Originally  this 
abode  was  conceived  of  as  a  mountain,  on  the  slopes  of  which 
was  a  garden  or  park  (Paradise)  containing  the  sacred  tree. 
The  Kerubim  have  in  the  Paradise  story  the  functions  of  being 
guards  of  the  divine  blessings  and  treasures.  Their  number  is 
not  mentioned ;  nor  is  it  stated,  as  is  usually  supposed,  that  each 
of  the  Kerubim  bore  in  his  hand  a  flaming  sword.  They  were 
earthly  beings  and  not  heavenly  beings.  While  there  is  much 
that  is  obscure  about  the  form  of  the  primitive  Israelitish 
Kerub,  it  may  be  safely  said  that  in  the  main  it  was  a  land- 
animal,  monstrous  and  ferocious.3  From  this  point  of  view  the 
recognition  of  certain  spots  as  haunts  of  the  gods  is  the  relig- 
ious expression  of  the  gradual  subjugation  of  nature  by  man. 
It  points  to  a  time  when  primitive  man  regarded  the  spontan- 
eous life  of  nature  as  exhibiting  the  presence  of  superhuman 
powers.  We  have  here  evidently  the  proof  of  the  existence  of 
animism  in  the  early  Semitic  religion. 


3  It  appears  from  several  poetical  passagesv  of  the  O.  T.  that  the 
Northern  Semites  believed  in  demons  called  Se'irim(  "hairy  beings"), 
and  Lilith  ("nocturnal  monsters"),  which  haunted  waste  and  desolate 
places,  in  fellowship  with  jackals  and  ostriches  (Isa.  xiii  :21,  Isa. 
xxxiv:14.  cf.,  Luke  xi:24). 


The  fullest  description  of  the  Kerubim  is  given  by  Ezekiel. 
In  Ezek.  xxviii  :14-19,  we  have  an  allusion  to  the  king  of  Tyre, 
who  'walked  amid  the  stones  of  fire  in  the  holy,  divine  moun- 
tain' and  was  cast  out  and  destroyed  by  a  Kerub.  The  Hebrew 
text  is  corrupt  and  an  intelligent  exegesis  of  the  passage  is 
rarely  given.  Cheyne  corrects  the  text  of  verses  13f  and  16f 
and  arrives  at  the  following  sense  of  the  passage :  that  we  have 
here  a  tradition  of  the  Paradise  Myth  distinct  from  that  of 
Gen.  ii  and  iii.  Certain  favoured  men,  it  appeared,  could  be 
admitted  to  Eden,  but  they  were  still  liable  to  the  sin  of  pride 
and  such  a  sin  would  be  their  ruin.  Following  the  analogy  of  Isa. 
xiv:13-15,  where  the  king  of  Babylon  is  hurled  from  heaven 
because  of  his  pride,  Ezekiel  applies  the  same  to  the  king  of 
Tyre.  In  the  Genesis  myth  the  Kerub  is  the  guardian  of  the 
'tree  of  life,'  but  in  Ezekiel  he  becomes  the  guardian  of  the 
'divine  treasures'*  which  are  in  the  'holy  mount.'  The  latter  is 
evidently  a  faithful  report  of  a  popular  tradition.  We  have 
here  a  tradition  distinct  from  that  in  Genesis.5  Wherever  the 
sacred  treasures  have  to  be  guarded  and  hidden,  the  early 
Semite  conceived  these  denizens  as  keeping  off  all  intruders  and 
driving  out  those  who  were  bold  enough  to  intrude  within  the 
'sacred  place.'  A  Kerub,  according  to  this  account,  abides  in 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Most  High,  and  is  the  guardian  of 
Yahveh's  treasures.  The  imagery  employed  by  the  same  pro- 
phet in  the  vision3  of  the  Kerubim  (Ezk.  10)  is  very  obscure, 
and  introduces  a  much  more  complex  idea.  The  prophet  recog- 
nizes them  as  identical  with  'the  living  creatures  (hayyoth)  that 
he  saw  under  the  God  of  Israel  by  the  river  Chebar'  (10:20), 
referring  to  the  vision  of  the  chariot  in  Ch.  i.  These  were  four 
in  number  (10:10)  ;  they  had  each  four  faces,  'the  face  of  a 
Kerub,  a  man,  a  lion,  and  eagle'  (10:14)  and  'four  wings' 
(10 :21).  As  one  of  their  faces  was  that  of  'a  Kerub/  and  the 
prophet  on  seeing  them  'knew  that  they  were  'Kerubim/  the 


4  "Fiery  Stones"  evidently  must  mean  the  sacred  stones,  and  hence 
in  Ezekiel  they  represent  the  sacred  treasures  of  the  gods. 

5  No  meaning  can  be  attached  to  the  phrases  "Anointed  Kerub"  or 
"Kerub  with  spreading  wings,"  both  of  which  are  wanting  in  the  LXX. 

6  That  this  vision  is  purely  apocalyptic  is  recognized  by  all. 


shape  of  a  'Kerub,'  as  of  a  fabulous  creature,  must  have  been 
well  known  through  popular  representations.7  Unfortunately, 
the  prophet's  description  throws  no  further  light  upon  their 
shape.  He  tells  us  that  the  'glory  of  the  Lord'  rested  above  'the 
Kerubim'  (10:19);  that  their  progress  was  straight  forward 
(10:22);  while  they  moved  not  with  wings  only,  but  with 
T.hirling  wheels,  and  burning  fire  was  between  them  (10:6-7). 

This  description,  though  much  more  complex  and  involved 
than  any  of  our  previous  sources,  presents  no  sort  of  contra- 
diction. In  all  probability  it  represents  an  elaboration,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  general  style  and  characteristics  of  Ezekiel's 
literary  work,  of  the  older  and  simpler  conceptions.  Some- 
times he  speaks  of  them  in  the  singular  (10:24),8  'the  living 
creature',  to  indicate  that,  being  animated  by  one  spirit,  the  four 
beings  formed  one  complex  phenomenon.  From  the  description 
we  recognize  that  whereas  the  original  abode  of  the  Kerub  was 
conceived  of  as  a  mountain  on  the  earth,  here  when  the  range 
of  the  Supreme  God's  power  became  wider,  when  from  the 
earth-god  he  became  also  a  heaven-god,  the  Kerub  too  passed 
into  a  new  phase ;  he  became  the  supporter  of  the  divine  throne. 

We  have  a  different  conception  of  the  Kerubim  in  Ezekiel's 
vision  of  Ch.  i.  The  prophet  has  not  the  old  unquestioning  belief 
in  tradition  and  has  modified  the  traditional  data  so  as  to  pro- 
duce effective  symbols  of  religious  ideas.  In  this  description  we 
have  four  Kerubim,  9each  of  which  has  four  faces,10  one  look- 
ing each  way — man,  lion,  ox,  and  eagle.  Each  has  human  hands 
on  his  four  sides.  They  are  not,  however,  called  Kerubim,  but 
hayyoth  ('living  creatures').  By  this  he  implies  that  his  own 
description  of  them  differed  so  widely  from  that  received  by 
tiadition  that  he  would  not  venture  to  call  them  Kerubim,  and 
did  not  until  'he  heard  them  called  so  by  God'  (10:20).  He 
speaks  of  them  in  the  singular  Kerub,  and  calls  it  'the  living 


7cf.  I   K.  vii:29. 

8  If  the  text  is  correct. 

»cf.  Rev.  iv:6-8. 

10  In  his  vision  of  the  temple  Ezekiel  again  modifies  his  picture  of  the 
Kerubim,  each  Kerub  there  having  but  two  faces — man  and  lion; 
Ezek.  xli:18. 


creature/  The  fourfold  character  of  the  Kerub  is  due  to  the  new 
function  of  being  bearer  of  the  'Canopy'  (firmament)  under  the 
throne  (1 :22-26).  But  the  whole  appearance  was  for  the  mo- 
ment bathed  in  luminous  splendour,  so  that  the  prophet  needed 
reflection  to  realize  it.  The  divine  manifestation  takes  place 
within  a  storm-cloud,  and  a  fire,  which  gives  out  flashes 
of  lightning,  burns  brightly  between  the  Kerubim;  also 
there  are  revolving  wheels  beside  the  Kerubim,  animated  by 
the  same  'spirit'  as  the  living  creatures,  and  as  brilliant  as  the 
chrysolith  or  topaz.  When  the  Chariot  of  God,  in  which  he 
rode,  descended  to  earth,  moved  from  place  to  place,  the  crea- 
ture on  either  side  had  the  appearance  of  an  advancing  man. 
When  in  motion  each  creature  expanded  one  pair  of  wings,  and 
the  expanded  wings  of  each  touched  and  thus  formed  a  square. 

The  vision  of  the  Kerubim  in  Ezek.  I.  is  evidently  composite, 
made  up  of  a  number  of  elements  from  several  sources.  There 
is  first  the  idea  that  Jahveh  moves  and  descends  to  earth  upon 
the  Kerubim.  The  Kerubim  are  thus  regarded  as  the  means 
and  tokens  of  Yahveh's  manifesting  himself ;  wherever  they  are 
seen  Yahveh  was  known  to  be  present.  The  Kerubim  are  the 
symbols  of  the  storm-clouds  on  which  Yahveh  rides  and  mani- 
fests himself. 

The  age  which  produced  the  story  of  Elijah's  ascent  to 
heaven  in  a  fiery  chariot11  may  be  supposed  to  have  known  of 
fiery  Kerubs  on  which  Yahveh  rode.  At  a  later  time,  the  Keru- 
bim, though  still  spoken  of  by  certain  writers,  were  no  longer 
indispensable.12  The  forces  of  nature  were  alike  Yahveh's 
guards  and  ministers.  Mythology  became  a  subject  of  special 
learning,  and  its  details  acquired  new  meanings,  and  the  Kerub- 
myth  passed  into  an  entirely  new  phase.  Ezekiel  probably 
mingled  the  old  Palestinian  view  of  the  Kerub  with  some  for- 
eign influence.  At  any  rate,  we  can  affirm  positively  that  the 
composite  form  of  the  Kerubim  as  seen  in  Ezek.  I.  is  not  Pal- 
estinian in  form  or  spirit.13  The  Phoenicians,  and  probably  the 


11 II  Kings  ii:ll. 

12  Hab.  iii  :8  speaks  of  Yahveh  as  riding,  not  upon  a  Kerub,  but  upon 
horses. 

13  Whether  the  sculptured  quadruped,  with  a  bearded  human  head, 


Canaanites,  and  through  them  the  Israelites,  evidently  attached 
greater  importance  to  the  Palestinian  form  and  idea  of  the 
Kerub,  and  it  is  said  that  among  the  discoveries  at  Zenjirli14  in 
N.  Syria  is  a  genuine  representation  of  this  mythic  form  of  the 
Kerub. 

Carved  figures  of  the  Kerubim  were  prominent  in  the  decor- 
ations of  the  walls  and  the  doors  of  the  Solomonic  temple. 
There  is  no  record  of  any  myth  which  directly  accounts  for 
these  representations,  but  they  probably  refer  to  the  ancient 
Kerub-myth  of  Eden.  Two  colossal  Kerubim  stood  in  the  'Ady- 
tum/ where  they  'formed  a  kind  of  dais,  one  wing  being 
stretched  towards  the  lateral  wall,  whilst  the  other  overshad- 
owed the  ark,15  a  felicitous  arrangement  resulting  in  charming 
effect.  Obviously  they  are  the  guards  of  the  sacred  ark  and  its 
still  more  sacred  contents.  Unfortunately,  no  minute  descrip- 
tion is  given  of  their  appearance.  Two  figures  were  placed  on 
the  mercy-seat  of  the  ark.16  They  were  composed  of  'wrought 
gold'  and  quite  small.17  They  are  represented  in  a  posture  fac- 
ing one  another,  but  looking  down  upon  the  ark.18  Figures  were 
also  introduced  into  the  veil  or  hanging  screen  which  separated 
the  Holy  Place  from  the  Holy  of  Holies.19  The  thought  in- 
tended by  these  representations  of  the  Kerubim  was  similar  to 
that  described  above,  viz. :  guardians  of  the  way  of  life.  Solo- 
mon's temple  contained  two  colossal  Kerubim  in  its  Holy  of 
Holies,  fifteen  feet  high,  made  of  wood  and  overlaid  with  gold. 
The  wings  were  spread  out,  and  the  two  Kerubim  touched 
with  their  outer  wings  the  wall  on  either  side.  In  II.  Chron. 


discovered  by  M.  Clermont-Ganneau  in  the  subterranean  quarries  in 
the  north  of  Jerusalem  is  rightly  called  a  Kerub  is  extremely  doubtful. 
(See  Revue  Critique,  16  Mai,  1892.) 

14  Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie,  1894.     Vol.  IX,  p.  420f. 

15  I  Kings  vi:23-35. 

16  Ex.  xxv:18-21. 

17  As  the  mercy-seat  covered  by  their  wings  was  only  3  ft,  6  in.  long, 
the  figures  of  the  Kerubim  were  quite  small. 

18  An  attitude  to  which  we  may  suppose  the  Apostle  makes  reference. 
See  I  Peter  i  :12. 

19  Ex,  xxvi:36. 

8 


iii  :1-17,  we  have  the  same  account  with  this  addition,  that  'they 
stood  on  their  feet/ and  their  faces  were  toward  the  house/  by 
which  is  probably  meant,  facing  the  entrance.  From  this  de- 
scription we  see  how  Hebrew  art  had  given  a  wide  interpreta- 
tion of  the  early  Kerub-myth.  It  can  only  be  the  work  of  im- 
agination in  which  fancy  had  been  given  play.  This  may  be 
seen  from  the  'palm  trees  and  open  flowers'  introduced  along 
with  the  Kerubim  in  the  carved  woodwork  of  the  wralls  and 
doors  in  the  exterior  and  interior  temple.20  In  the  description 
of  the  'brazen  sea'  it  is  recorded  that  in  the  ornamentation  there 
were  figures  of  'lions,  oxen,  and  Kerubim.'21 

Another  group  of  passages22  on  the  Kerubim  is  poetic  and 
probably  comes  from  a  later  period.  In  Psa.  xviii  :10  we  read 
'He  bowed  the  heavens  and  came  down,  and  thick  clouds  were 
under  his  feet,  he  mounted  the  Kerub  and  flew ;  he  came  swoop- 
ing down  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.'  This  description  agrees 
with  that  of  Ezekiel.  The  Kerub  is  here  the  divine  chariot  and 
has  some  relation  to  the  storm-wind  and  storm-cloud.  The 
other  Psalm-passages  appear  to  give  a  new  conception  of  the 
Kerubim,  who  are  neither  the  guards  of  the  'mountain  of  God' 
nor  'the  chariot  of  the  moving  deity,'  but  the  throne  on  which 
he  is  seated.  In  Psa.  xxii:3,  if  the  text  is  correct,  Yahveh  is 
addressed  as  'enthroned'  not  upon  the  Kerubim,  but  'upon  the 
praises  of  Israel.'  The  idea  is  that  the  Kerubim  have  now  the 
new  function  of  praising  God,  a  very  interesting  development. 
This  agrees  with  later  beliefs,  and  may  be  illustrated  by  the23 
priestly  direction  in  Ex.  xxv  :20  that  the  faces  of  the  Kerubim 
on  the  ark  shall  be  'towards  the  mercy-seat.'  The  meaning  of 
the  priestly  theorist  is  that  the  Kerubim  are  a  kind  of  higher 
angels  who  surround  the  throne  of  Yahveh  and  contemplate 
and  praise  his  glory.  This  is  clearly  the  work  of  Hebrew  spec- 


20  I  Kings  vi  :29,  32,  35. 
21 1  Kings  vii  :29. 

22  Psa.   xviii,   10f.,   lxxx:l,    xcix:l,   xxii  :3.      See  also   I    Sam.    iv:4, 
II  Sam.  vi:2,  I  Chron.  xiii  :6,  II  Kings  xix:15   (cf.  Isa.  xxxvii:16). 

23  Ex.  xxv  :20.     That  this  is  from  the  priestly  code  is  recognized  by 
the  critics. 

9 


ulation,  and  in  this  composite  system  of  angelogy  the  Kerubim 
form  one  of  the  ten  highest  classes;  with  the  ophannim  or 
"wheels"  they  are  specially  attached  to  the  throne  of  the  divine 
glory. 


10 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RABBINIC   CONCEPTION 

Rabbinic  theology  regarded  the  Kerubim  placed  by  God  at 
the  entrance  of  Paradise  as  angels  created  on  the  third  day,24 
and  that  therefore  they  had  no  definite  shape,  appearing  either 
as  men  or  women,  or  as  spirits  or  angelic  beings.  In  Jewish 
angelogy  the  Kerubim  form  one  of  the  ten  highest  classes  of 
angels,  and  together  with  the  hayyoth  ('living  creatures')  are 
specially  attached  to  the  throne  of  the  divine  glory.  It  is  also 
the  function  of  the  Kerubim  to  be  bearers  of  the  throne  on  its 
progress  through  the  world.  The  Jewish  liturgy  delights  to 
associate  the  'praises  of  Israel'  with  those  offered  to  God  by 
the  different  classes  of  the  angels.  Such  a  view  is  suggested  in 
the  'Similitudes  of  Enoch'25  in  a  passage  in  which  the  Kerubim 
and  all  the  angels  of  power  are  combined  under  the  phrase,  'the 
host  of  God/  while  in  another  the  'four  faces  on  the  four  sides 
of  the  Lord  of  Spirits'  (Ezek.  i:6)  are  identified  with  the  arch- 
angels.26 Elsewhere  they  are  the  ever  sleepless  guardians  of  the 
'throne  of  His  glory.'  Again,  they  are  the  'fiery  Kerubim,'  and 
together  with  the  seraphim  are  closely  connected  with  Para- 
dise, under  the  Archangel  Gabriel. 

In  the  passages  of  the  Talmud  that  describe  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven,  the  Kerubim  are  not  mentioned.  The  following  sen- 
tence of  the  Midrash  is  characteristic:27  'When  a  man  sleeps, 
the  body  tells  to  the  Neshamah  (soul)  what  it  has  done  during 
the  day ;  the  Neshamah  then  reports  it  to  the  Nephesh  (the  spir- 
it), the  Nephesh  to  the  Angel,  the  Angel  to  the  Kerub,  and  the 
Kerub  to  the  Seraph,  who  then  brings  it  before  God.'  When 
Pharaoh  pursued  Israel  at  the  Red  Sea,  God  took  a  Kerub  from 


24  Quoted  from  article  Kerubim  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 

25  Chapter  xl. 

26  Chapter  Ixxi  :7. 

27  Quoted  from  article  Kerubim  in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia, 

11 


the  wheels  of  his  throne  and  flew  to  the  spot,  for  he  inspects 
the  heavenly  worlds  while  sitting  on  the  Kerub. 

Josephus,28  referring  to  the  Kerubim  of  the  temple,  says  that 
none  can  tell  or  ever  guess  what  they  were  like.  Philo29  men- 
tions that  in  the  opinion  of  some,  the  Kerubim  over  the  ark  rep- 
resented two  hemispheres ;  but  his  own  preference  was  to  identi- 
fy them  with  the  two  most  ancient  and  supreme  attributes  of 
the  Almighty — the  power  of  creating  and  the  power  of  ruling. 

30 An  authority  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  A.  D.  says  that 
the  Kerubim  which  Ezekiel  saw  in  his  vision  were  originally 
man,  lion,  bull,  and  eagle,  but  that  Ezekiel  implored  God  to  take 
a  Kerub  instead  of  a  bull,  which  would  continually  remind  Him 
of  Israel's  worship  of  that  animal.  Thus  it  seems  that  the 
Talmud  noticed  that  Ezekiel's  conception  of  the  heavenly  crea- 
tures differed  from  the  traditional  one. 

Maimonides  holds  that  the  figures  of  the  Kerubim  were 
placed  in  the  sanctuary  only  to  preserve  among  the  people  the 
belief  in  the  angels,  there  being  always  two,  in  order  that  the 
people  might  not  be  led  to  believe  that  they  were  the  image  of 
God. 

From  these  passages  of  later  Jewish  writings  it  will  be  seen 
that  there  was  no  uniform  tradition  as  to  the  form  and  func- 
tion of  the  Kerubim.  It  is  even  quite  uncertain  whether  they 
regarded  them  as  angels.  The  rabbinical  sources  evince  an 
archeological  rather  than  a  theological  interest  in  the  Kerubim. 
The  symbolical  interpretation  of  the  Alexandrians  is  also  found 
in  rabbinical  sources. 


28  Ant.   viii  :3.     Thus  if  there  had  been   a  traditional  view   of  the 
form  of  the  Kerub  doubtless  Josephus  would  have  preserved  it. 

29  Philo,  De  Kerub,  vii. 

30  From  article  "Kerubim"  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   ASSYRO-BABYLONIAN    CONCEPTION 

It  has  always  been  asserted  that  the  Kerubs,  the  guardians 
of  the  entrance  to  Paradise,  the  bearers  of  the  divine  chariot, 
are  identical  with  the  Assyrian  bull  and  lion  colossi.31  The 
corresponding  Assyrian  word  has,  however,  never  been  satis- 
factorily established.  Zimmern  correctly  observes  that  we 
are  to  read  in  VR.  29,  74:  ku-ru-(u)=a.  bodily  defect,  and 
.not  with  Delitzsch  ku-ru-(bu)  ;  this  stands  in  connection  with 
(BA)-AN-ZA=/>w>.n?  'limping.'  The  newly  discovered  dupli- 
cate (AO.  4489,  19b)  by  Thureau-Dangin32  leaves  no  doubt 
that  we  are  to  read  lu-git-ud=ku-ru-u. 

In  the  new  text  of  Esarhaddon,  however,  which  Messer- 
schmidt33  has  published,  the  word  ku-ru-bu  does  occur.  This 
at  all  events  seems  to  be  the  prototype  of  the  Kerub.  In  this 
passage  the  king  relates  that  he  undertook  an  extensive  re- 
building of  the  old  temple  of  Ashur.  In  the  ceiling  Esar- 
haddon put  in  cedar-beams,  which  he  had  brought  from  his 
campaigns;  there  were  also  ornamented  doors  of  fragrant 
cypress  with  gold  knobs,  and  the  Adytum  was  veneered  with 
gold.  Then  the  king  continues:  (il)  Lah-me  (il)  ki-ru-bi  $a 
za-ri-ri  ru-us-su-u  idi  anu  idi  ulziz.  'A  Lahmu  divinity  and  a 
Ku-ri-bu  divinity  I  have  erected  of  burnished  brass  on  both 
sides.'  The  Lahmu-divinity  whose  statue  Agumkakrime  had 
erected  in  the  temple,  was  one  of  the  predecessors  of  the 
divine  triad  Anu,  Enlil  and  Ea.  For  this  reason  we  are  to 
assume  that  the  divine  Kirubu  hitherto  unknown  had  occupied 
a  similar  place  in  the  Babylonian  Theogony. 

The  discovery  of  the  Assyrian  bull  and  lion  colossi  was 


31  Zimmern,  KAT3,  529f,  631f,  quoted  from  Orientalistische  Literatur. 
Zeitung,  October,  1911,  column  476. 
32RT.XXX  11,  page  2  (Supplement). 
33  Cuneiform  Texts  of  Assyrian  History,  I,  page  69f. 

13 


first  made  by  Botta,  the  French  Consul  at  Mosul,  in  1842,  when 
he  employed  his  spare  time  in  making  excavations  at  Khorsa- 
bad,  the  results  of  which  were  published  in  the  Journal  Asia- 
tique  during  the  years  1843-45.  Botta  laid  bare  the  foundations 
of  an  immense  edifice  and  brought  to  light  the  first  Assyrian 
palace  disclosed  to  European  eyes:  this  was  the  residence  of 
the  powerful  monarch  Sargon,  whose  name  is  mentioned  in 
the  Book  of  Isaiah,  and  who  was  the  father  of  Sennacherib. 
The  most  important  point  for  our  present  purpose  is  that  a 
large  number  of  winged  lions  or  bulls  in  bas-reliefs  were  found 
before  the  gates,  and  within  the  walls  of  the  palace.  These 
figures  are  of  colossal  proportions,  as  seemed  fitting  for  gods 
and  heroes.  Thus  the  winged  bulls  at  the  Louvre,  which  came 
from  Khorsabad,  are  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  feet  high.  The 
Assyrians  multiplied  their  winged  bulls  at  the  entrance  of  the 
doors.  Some  of  these  have  a  relief  of  about  eight  inches  and 
placed  at  the  corners  of  the  doors  to  support  the  archivolt,  they 
seemed,  like  Atlas  upholding  the  world,  to  bear  upon  their 
heads  the  whole  mass  of  the  building.  They  were  arranged  in 
fours,  two  being  on  the  plane  of  the  wall,  facing  each  other 
on  either  side  of  the  door,  and  the  other  two  facing  the  visitor, 
as  he  entered,  who  thus  saw  at  once  the  bodies  of  the  first  two 
in  profile  and  the  full  face  of  the  two  others.  By  an  illusion, 
he  seemed  to  see  at  the  same  time  the  whole  of  a  bearded  mon- 
ster with  his  thick  mane  on  his  chest,  his  neck  furnished  with 
tufts  of  hair,  his  legs,  in  which  the  muscles  are  powerfully 
marked,  his  wings  formed  of  rows  of  plumes,  and  reaching 
fan-like,  as  high  as  the  archivolt. 

Layard34  in  his  excavations  at  Nineveh  in  1845  describes  the 
discovery  of  winged  human-headed  lions,  differing  from  those 
previously  found,  the  human  shape  being  continued  to  the  waist 
and  furnished  with  arms.  They  were  about  twelve  feet  in 
height  and  the  same  number  of  feet  in  length.  The  body  and 
limbs  were  admirably  portrayed;  the  muscles  and  bones,  al- 
though strongly  developed  to  show  the  strength  of  the  animal, 
showed  at  the  same  time  a  correct  knowledge  of  its  anatomy 


34  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  I.,  p.  75. 

14 


and  form.  Expanded  wings  sprung  from  the  shoulders  and 
spread  over  the  back;  a  knotted  girdle,  ending  in  tassels,  en- 
circled the  loins.  These  sculptures,  forming  an  entrance,  were 
partly  in  full  and  partly  in  relief. 

The  Assyrian  texts  speak  of  these  half-human  and  half-beast 
images  as  sede  and  lamasse.  In  an  inscription35  preserved  at 
Cambridge,  Nergal3arusur,  one  of  the  Babylonian  successors  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  speaking  of  his  restoration  of  the  doors  of  the 
sacred  pyramid  of  Babylon,  says  that  he  had  caused  to  be  placed 
there  "light  talismanic  figures  in  solid  bronze,  which  were  to 
keep  all  wicked  and  antagonistic  people  at  a  distance."  In  the 
famous  inscription  of  Esarhaddon  we  find  the  following  prayer 
offered  to  these  human-headed  bulls : 

$e-du  dum-ku  la-mas  si  dum-ki 
Na-sir  kib-si  sar-ru-ti-ia 
Mu-ha-du-u  ka-bat-ti-ia 
da-ris  lis-tap-ru-u  ai 
ip-par-ku-u  i-da-a-sa. 

"May  the  gracious  sedu,  the  gracious  lamassi,  who  protect 
the  footsteps  of  my  royalty,  who  make  my  liver  rejoice,  always 
rule  (me)  ;  may  their  powers  never  depart  from  me." 

What  were  these  sede  and  lamasse?  They  were  undoubtedly 
originally  demons  who  were  supposed  to  be,  in  some  way,  the 
embodiment  of  the  life  that  manifested  itself  in  such  diverse 
manners.  Starting  from  that  form  of  religious  faith  known  as 
Animism,  which  has  been  ascertained  to  be  practically  universal 
in  primitive  society,  the  Babylonians,  from  ascribing  life  to  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  i.  e.,  to  trees,  stones,  and  plants  as  well 
as  to  such  natural  phenomena  as  storms,  rain  and  wind,  could 
be  led  to  invoke  an  infinite  number  of  spirits  who  were  sup- 
posed to  embody  these  phenomena.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  were  certain  phenomena  which  would  point  to  well-de- 
fined spirits  as  exercising  a  more  decisive  influence  upon  man 
than  others.  The  result  would  be  that  a  preponderance  of 
worship  would  be  given  to  the  sun,  moon,  and  to  such  natural 


35  See  Records  of  the  Past,  vol.  V.,  p.  138. 

15 


phenomena  as  rain,  wind  and  storms,  with  their  accompaniment 
of  thunder  and  lightning,  as  against  the  countless  spirits  be- 
lieved to  be  lurking  everywhere.36  The  evil  spirits  were  called 
demons  and  the  names  of  many  of  them,  as  utukku,  sedu,  alu, 
gallu,  point  to  'strength  and  greatness'  as  their  main  attribute; 
other  names,  as  lilu  ('night-spirit',)  and  the  feminine  form, 
lilitu,  indicate  the  time  chosen  by  them  for  their  work.  Again, 
the  names  of  others,  as  ekimmu  ('the  seizer',)  ahhazi  ('the  cap- 
turer,')  rabi^u  ('the  one  that  lies  in  wait,')  labartu  ('the  op- 
pressor/) and  labasu  ('the  overthrower')  show  the  purpose  of 
their  work.  To  these  demons  all  manner  of  evil  is  ascribed. 
Their  presence  was  felt  in  the  destructive  winds  that  swept  the 
lands,  while  diseases  bred  by  the  summer  heat  were  traced  to 
demons  of  the  soil.37  Men  and  women  were  in  constant  danger 
of  them,  and  even  animals  were  not  safe  from  their  attacks. 
Thus,  they  could  drive  the  birds  out  of  their  nests  and  strike 
down  lambs,  bulls,  etc. 

The  demons  were  always  given  some  shape,  animal  or 
human,38  for  it  was  a  necessary  corollary  to  a  belief  in  demons 
that  the  demon  must  exist  somewhere,  although  he  might  be 
invisible  to  mankind.  Among  animals,  those  calculated  to  in- 
spire terror  by  mysterious  movements  were  chosen,  such  as 
serpents  or  scorpions,  against  whom  it  was  difficult  to  protect 
oneself,  or  again,  the  fabulous  monsters  with  which  graves  and 
pestiferous  spots  were  peopled. 

For  protection  against  the  demons,  small  images  were  placed 
at  the  entrance  to  houses,  and  amulets  of  various  kinds  were 
carried  about  the  person.  Tablets,  too,  were  hung  up  in  the 
house,  probably  at  the  entrance,  on  which  extracts  from  re- 
ligious texts  were  inscribed,  which  by  virtue  of  their  sacred 
character  were  intended  to  protect  it  against  the  entrance  of 
demons.39  When,  however,  a  person  had  once  come  under  the 


36  De  La  Saussaye,  Science  of  Religion,  p.  130. 

37  M.  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Die  Religion  Babyloniens  u.  Assyriens,  p.  278. 

38  Figures  of  such  may  be  seen  in  The  Seal  Cylinders  of  Western 
Asia,  by  William  Hayes  Ward,  1910,  p.  179f. 

39  A  collection  of  Sumerian  liturgical  hymns  is  published  in  Haupt's 
Akkadische  und  Sumerische  Keilschrifttexte.     See  numbers  10,  12,  21. 

16 


baneful  influence  of  the  demons,  recourse  was  had  to  a  pro- 
fessional class  of  exorcists,  who  acted  as  mediators  between 
the  victims  and  the  gods  to  whom  the  ultimate  appeal  for  help 
was  made. 

Thus  we  see  how  far  this  belief  in  such  animistic  spirits 
early  influenced  the  ideas  of  the  ancient  Babylonians.  Since 
everything  was  endowed  with  life,  there  was  not  only  a  spirit 
of  the  tree40  which  produced  the  fruit,  but  there  were  spirits 
in  every  field.  To  them  the  ground  belonged,  and  upon  their 
mercy  depended  the  success  or  failure  of  the  produce.  To 
secure  the  favor  of  the  rain  and  the  sun  was  not  sufficient  to 
the  agriculturist;  he  was  obliged  to  obtain  the  protection  of 
the  guardian  spirits  of  the  soil  in  order  to  make  certain  the 
reaping  of  his  labors.  And  again,  when  through  association 
the  group  of  arable  lands  grew  into  a  hamlet  and  then  into  a 
town,  the  latter,  regarded  as  a  political  unit  by  virtue  of  its 
organization  under  a  chief  ruler,  would  have  some  special 
daimon,41  presiding  over  the  destinies  and  rights  of  those  who 
stood  under  its  jurisdiction.  Each  Babylonian  city,  large  or 
small,  would  in  this  way  obtain  a  deity  devoted  to  its  welfare. 
The  uniformity  of  the  spirit-world  thus  gave  way  to  a  dif- 
ferentiation by  which  the  natural  forces  became  gods  and 
the  inferior  ones  were,  as  a  general  thing,  relegated  to  a  posi- 
tion of  mere  inferior  influences.  Taking  up  the  gods  named 
in  the  inscriptions  of  the  old  Babylonian  rulers,  we  find  the 
name42  En-lil,  'the  lord  of  the  storm  demons.'  Primarily  the 
ideogram  LIL  is  used  to  designate  a  demon  in  general,  and 
En-lil  is  therefore  the  chief  demon.  As  the  lord  of  the  lower 
world,  En-lil  is  contrasted  with  the  god  Anu,  who  presides 
over  the  heavenly  bodies;  Bau43  is  the  'mother'  who  fixes  the 
destinies  of  men  and  provides  'abundance'  for  the  tillers  of 


to  See  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough;  vol.  I,  pp.  185-191. 

41  McCurdy,  History,  Prophecy,  and  the  Monuments,  vol.  I,  p.  117f. 

42  Briinnow  5939  C.  L.  C.  I.  En-lil-Bel  and  is  the  same  as  Illinois  of 
the  Greek  authors. 

43  The  giver  of  grain.    A  picture  of  Bau  may  be  seen  in  The  Seal 
Cylinders  of   Western  Asia,  p.  142.     She  is  seen  in  a  boat  with  her 
characteristic  bird. 

17 


the  soil ;  En-ki  or  Ea,  the  god  of  that  'which  is  below,'  meaning 
the  'waters  of  the  deep';  Nergal,  'the  god  of  pestilence  or 
war';  Shamash,  'the  god  of  the  day';  Ishtar,  'the  mistress  of 
countries/  who  was  appropriately  denominated  the  brilliant 
goddess,  as  her  symbol  was  the  planet  Venus;  and  Sin,  'the 
moon-god.' 

In  this  list  great  gods  and  goddesses,  and  all  kinds  of  minor 
deities  are  gathered  together,  and  the  list  seems  hopeless.  But 
these  are  local  deities,  and  some  are  mere  duplications.  Nearly 
every  place  would  have  a  sun-god  or  a  moon-god,  or  both,  and 
in  the  political  development  of  the  country  the  moon-god  of 
the  conquering  city  displaced  or  absorbed  the  moon-god  of 
the  conquered.44  In  the  case  of  Ea,  as  in  that  of  En-lil,  when 
Babylon  became  the  world-city  the  powers  and  prerogatives 
of  Ea  were  transferred  to  Marduk,  since  the  latter  is  made 
the  son  of  Ea,  who  rejoiced  in  Marduk's  honor. 

Babylonia  early  reverenced  the  triad  of  gods — Anu,  Bel 
and  Ea.  Anu  is  associated  with  Erech  in  the  south,  and  with 
Durilu  in  the  north.  Bel  is  the  god  of  Nippur  and  Ea  the 
god  of  Eridu.  Through  the  centuries  these  gods  are  continu- 
ally invoked  together.  Behind  these  in  very  early  times,  as  the 
later  creation  story  shows  us,  there  was  a  duad,  Anshar,  the 
god  of  the  upper  all,  and  Kishar,  the  goddess  of  the  lower 
all,  and  beside  these  another  duad,  Lahmu  and  Lahamu.  But 
these  disappeared  out  of  later  religious  ideas,  save  that  from 
Anshar  came  the  name  of  Ashur,  the  god  of  the  Assyrians. 

Another  triad  of  gods  was  built  up  by  the  side  of  the  first 
—Sin,  Shamash  and  Ishtar.  In  this  triad,  Ishtar  is  often  re- 
placed by  the  god  Adad,  called  also  by  the  Assyrians  Ramman. 
Adad  was  the  god  of  rain  and  of  storms,  and  hence  also  of 
the  mountains.  Thus  we  see  how  the  gods  arose  higher  as 
their  worshippers  increased  in  power,  and  how  they  sank 
into  weakness  as  their  worshippers  sank  down  in  rank  in  other 
cities.  We  can  see  how  great  gods  absorbed  gods  of  minor 
places  within  themselves,  and  how  strong  a  tendency  there  was 
to  diminish  the  number  of  the  gods. 


44  Rogers,  The  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  p.  79. 

18 


With  the  process  of  systematization  of  cults  and  beliefs,  which 
was  characteristic  of  Hammurabi,  a  marked  tendency  toward 
a  reduction  of  the  pantheon  is  apparent,  a  weeding  out  of  the 
numerous  local  cults,  their  absorption  by  the  larger  ones,  and 
the  relegation  of  the  minor  gods  of  only  local  significance  to  a 
place  among  the  spirits  and  demons  of  the  Babylonian  religion. 
The  names  of  some  of  these  minor  gods  will  suffice  to  indicate 
their  general  character.  For  example,  'Zakar,'  signifying  prob- 
ably 'heroic/  appears  to  have  been  worshipped  at  Nippur,  where 
he  stood  in  close  relation  to  Bel  and  Belit  of  Nippur.  Other 
gods,  such  as  Lugal  -  Gira,  'raging  king,'  a  title  of 
Nergal  in  his  character  as  the  god  of  pestilence,  also  appear.45 
That  some  of  these  minor  gods  are  Cassite  deities  imported  into 
Babylonia,  whose  position  in  the  pantheon  was  therefore  of  a 
temporary  character,  there  can  be  no  doubt.46  Jensen  has  shown 
that  Eshara  is  a  poetical  name  for  earth,  and  the  god  Ninib  in 
his  capacity  as  the  god  of  agriculture,  is  called  the  'product  of 
Eshara.'  Hence  it  is  quite  probable  from  the  description  given 
of  him  as  the  protector  of  the  boundaries  that  Pap-u47  was  a 
god  somewhat  of  the  same  nature,  i.  e.,  that  he  regulated  the 
boundaries  of  arable  land.  He  is  one  of  the  numerous  forms 
of  boundary  gods  that  are  met  with  among  all  nations.  That 
we  do  not  meet  with  more  in  Babylonia  is  due  to  the  tendency, 
above  described,  of  the  centralization  of  power  in  a  limited 
number  of  deities.  Instead  of  the  gods  of  boundaries  we  have 
numerous  demons  and  spirits,  in  the  case  of  the  developed 
Babylonian  religion,  into  whose  hands  the  care  of  preserving 
the  rights  of  owners  to  their  lands  is  entrusted.  Symbols  of 
these  spirits — serpents,  unicorns,  scorpions,  and  the  like — are 
added  on  the  monuments  which  were  placed  at  the  boundaries, 
and  on  which  the  terms  were  specified  that  justified  land  ten- 
ure. It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  we  have  in  Pap-u  a  special 
boundary  god  who  has  survived  in  that  role  from  a  more 
primitive  period  of  Babylonian  culture.  He  occupies  a  place 


45  Delitzsch,  Kossaer,  pp.  25-27. 

46  Jensen,  Kosmologie,  pp.  481ff. 

47  "Friend  of  vegetation." 


19 


usually  assigned  to  the  powerful  demons  who  are  regarded  as 
the  real  owners  of  the  soil.48 

The  development  of  a  pantheon,  graded  and  regulated  by 
the  Babylonian  schoolmen,  did  not  drive  out  old  animistic 
views.  In  the  religious  literature  of  all  classes  the  unorgan- 
ized mass  of  spirits  maintains  an  undisputed  sway.  In  the 
incantation  texts,  as  well  as  in  other  sections  of  Babylonian 
literature  embodying  both  the  primitive  and  the  advanced 
views  of  the  Babylonians  regarding  the  origin  of  the  universe, 
its  subdivisions,  and  its  order  of  development,  and  again,  its 
legends  and  epics,  hundreds  of  spirits  are  introduced,  to  each 
of  which  some  definite  function  is  assigned. 

It  is  very  important  to  remember  that  the  numerous  spirits, 
when  introduced  into  the  religious  texts,  are  invariably  pre- 
ceded by  a  sign — technically  known  as  a  determinative — which 
stamps  them  as  divine  beings.  This  sign  being  the  same  as 
the  one  placed  before  the  names  of  the  gods,  it  is  impossible 
always  to  distinguish  between  deities  and  spirits.  The  use  of 
a  common  sign  is  significant  as  pointing  to  the  common  origin 
of  the  two  classes  of  superior  beings  that  continue  to  exist 
side  by  side.  A  god  was  originally  a  spirit  or  demon  that  in- 
habited the  land.49  In  the  historical  texts  the  gods  alone, 
with  certain  exceptions,  find  official  recognition,  and  it  is 
largely  through  these  texts  that  we  are  able  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  two  classes  of  powers — gods  and  spirits.  But  as 
a  survival  of  a  primitive  animism,  the  spirits,  good,  bad  and 
indifferent,  retain  their  place  in  the  popular  form  of  religion. 

In  the  history  of  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  art  sculptures  and 
facades  have  been  discovered  upon  whose  peculiar  character- 
istics stress  must  be  laid.  They  represent  especially  divine 
heroes,  winged  genii  with  human  bodies  and  eagles'  claws  and 
beaks,  etc.60  Tylor  mentions  the  winged  genii  often  depicted 


48  This  notion  that  the  ground  belonged  to  the  gods,  and  that  man 
is  only  a  tenant,  survived  to  a  late  period  of  Semitic  religion.     See 
W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  91-ff. 

49  M.  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Die  Religion  Babyloniens  u.  Assyriens,  ch.  17. 

50  Tylor    in   Proceedings   of   the   Society    of    Biblical   Archaeology, 
xii.  383ff. 

20 


by  the  side  of  the  tree  of  life  in  Babylonian  art.  These  fig- 
ures are  usually  human  in  form  with  human  heads,  but  some- 
times combine  the  human  form  with  an  eagle's  head,  and  oc- 
casionally the  human  head  with  an  animal  body.  They  are 
shown  in  the  act  of  fecundating  the  date-palm  by  transferring 
the  pollen  of  the  male  tree  to  the  flower  of  the  female;  and 
hence  it  has  been  conjectured  that  they  are  personifications  of 
the  winds,  by  whose  agency  the  fertilization  of  the  date-palm 
is  effected  by  nature. 

Among  birds  we  find  the  eagle,  the  vulture  and  the  gerfal- 
con, the  anatomical  details  of  which  are  executed  with  skill.51 
In  the  field,  on  the  mountains,  or  on  the  river  banks  we  find 
palms  and  trees  of  every  species. 

A  statuette  in  M.  de  Vogue's  collection  found  at  Van,  rep- 
resents a  sort  of  siren  which  seems  to  have  an  Oriental  appear- 
ance as  to  the  head,  the  hair  being  in  ringlets;  the  eyes  are 
large,  bracelets  are  upon  the  outstretched  arms  behind  wings 
and  artistically  marked  feathers.52  The  Louvre  possesses  the 
figure  of  a  monster  with  four  wings  which  represents  the  demon 
of  the  south-west  wind,  as  the  cuneiform  inscription  upon  it 
teaches  us.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  hideous  than  the 
head  with  its  glaring  eyes,  roaring  throat,  horned  brows, 
crooked  fingers  and  fleshless  claws.  A  bronze  plaque  from 
the  collection  of  M.  de  Clercq,  in  which  M.  Clermont-Ganneau 
has  recognized  a  representation  of  the  Assyrian  hell,  is  occu- 
pied by  a  monster  with  four  wings  and  eagle's  claws,  looking 
over  the  top  of  the  plaque;  on  the  other  side  the  monster's 
head  is  seen,  and  under  it  are  scenes  representing:  first,  the 
symbolical  figures  of  the  stars,  then  a  procession  of  seven  crea- 
tures dressed  in  long  robes  and  having  the  heads  of  various 
animals :  these  are  the  heavenly  genii  called  Igigi.  Below  this 
yve  witness  a  funeral  scene:  two  creatures  with  human  bodies 
combined  with  the  head  and  body  of  a  fish,  like  the  god 
Cannes,  stand  by  a  bier  on  which  a  corpse  is  laid  out;  near 
them  stand  two  monsters  like  demons,  which  appear  in  a  bat- 


51  Layard,  Monuments  of  Nineveh,  vol.  I,  plate  26  and  passim. 

52  See  Figs.  101  and  102  in  Babelon's  Manual  of  Oriental  Antiquities, 
pp.  129  and  130. 

21 


tie-scene  belonging  to  the  campaigns  of  As£ur-Nasir-pal,  and, 
of  larger  size,  on  the  walls  of  Assur-bani-pal's  palace ;  they  face 
one  another  and  seem  to  be  quarreling.  The  monster  on  the 
other  side  is  boldly  designed,  and  his  form  is  vigorous  and 
subtle. 

In  glyptic  art53  have  been  discovered  the  same  images  which 
monumental  sculpture  drew  upon  the  walls  of  temples  and 
palaces.  These  stones  carved  in  intaglio  were  worn  around 
the  neck,  on  the  finger,  on  the  wrist,  or  fastened  to  a  garment. 
They  were  at  the  same  time  prophylactic  amulets  against  sick- 
ness or  witchcraft.  The  artist,  also,  sought  to  reproduce  on 
cylinders  human  figures,  then  divine  beings,  or  the  heroes  be- 
gotten of  the  popular  fancy,  whose  image  was  intended  to  in- 
crease the  talismanic  virtue  of  the  stone.  There  are  monsters 
standing  on  their  hind  legs,  struggling  with  one  another,  and 
giants  killing  lions  or  human-headed  quadrupeds.  M.  Menant 
has  remarked  that  the  figures  of  animals  are  always  repre- 
sented in  profile,  while  the  human  figures  with  long  beards,  are 
in  full  face  even  when  the  body  is  in  profile.  There  are  also 
double-faced  genii,  quadrupeds  with  a  single  head  and  two 
bodies.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  cylinders  of  the  primitive 
epoch  is  one  in  the  rich  de  Clercq  collection.  Men  and  various 
animals  are  here  seen :  a  goat  with  many  horns  browsing  on  the 
leaf  of  a  tree ;  a  rhinoceros,  antelopes,  bulls,  fish,  an  eagle,  and 
some  trees;  two  demons  subduing  fantastic  animals,  scorpions 
and  palm  trees.  54The  London  Times  of  October  9,  1911, 
gives  an  account  of  excavations  at  Carchemish  by  R.  Campbell- 
Thompson,  who  discovered  two  slabs,  the  first  depicting  a  kind 
of  amulet-scene,  such  as  were  placed  at  the  entrance  of  As- 
syrian palaces.  Four  mythological  figures  stand  on  guard,  the 
two  outer  being  demons  with  lions'  heads,  while  the  two  inner 


53  J.    Menant,    La    Glyptique    Oriental,    vol.    I,    and    L.    de    Clercq, 
Catalogue  de  sa  Collection  fasc.  1-3. 

54  The   discoveries    reveal   an   early   civilization.     The   settlers   used 
flint    knives    and    hand-made    pottery.       The    Hittites    absorbed    this 
savage   race,  which   took  even   its  ornaments    from  them.     This   dis- 
covery  points   to   an   earlier   date    for   the   ideas   of    the   Kerub   than 
even  the  Hittites,  a  claim  which  Cheyne  has  advocated. 

22 


ones  are  divinities  with  bulls'  legs.  The  other  figure  was  prob- 
ably made  with  similar  intent;  a  winged  lion  with  the  head  of 
a  divinity  superimposed  upon  its  head.  The  representation  of 
whole  figures  of  Hittite  divinities  on  the  backs  of  lions  is  not 
uncommon,  but  the  head  alone  is  strange  and  curious.  A  little 
amulet  was  found  in  the  diggings  similar  to  these  divinities, 
rudely  engraved  on  a  small  stone  plaque  with  the  linear  figure 
of  a  lion  surmounted  by  a  god,  and  evidently  intended  to  be 
hung  against  the  wall.  These  finds  reported  from  Carchemish 
are  very  important,  as  they  point  to  the  fact  that  the  ideas 
conveyed  in  the  Kerub  were  very  primitive,  and  that  the  Baby- 
lonians and  Assyrians  probably  adopted  some  portion  of  their 
talismanic  image,  which  they  called  Kerubim,  from  these  early, 
uncivilized  people. 

From  the  foregoing  description  of  the  Babylonian  religious 
ideas  of  demons,  minor  gods  and  legends  about  the  origin  of 
things,  it  is  now  possible  to  conceive  of  the  source  whence  the 
Hebrews  derived  their  mythological  ideas  regarding  the  Keru- 
bim. They  were  clearly  survivals  of  a  primitive  stage  of  civili- 
zation. The  greater  part  of  the  O.T.  symbolism  regarding  these 
beings  can  be  explained  from  the  hypothesis  that  the  Kerubim 
were  originally  wind-demons.  The  most  suggestive  analogy 
of  this  is  seen  in  the  winged  genii,  found  in  early  Babylonian 
art,  often  depicted  by  the  tree  of  life.  The  sacred  tree  among 
the  Babylonians  was  the  date-palm,  because  the  date  was  of 
great  importance  in  Babylonia  as  an  article  of  food.  We  ob- 
serve the  Kerubim  by  the  side  of  palm-trees  in  many  pass- 
ages in  the  O.T.  (1  Kings  vi:29,  32,  35,  etc.  and  especially 
Ezek.  xli:18,19).  We  have  seen  that  figures  of  Kerubim  were 
also  carved  as  ornaments,  together  with  palm-trees  and  open 
flowers,  and  also  upon  walls  and  the  doors  of  the  Temple  (1 
Kings  vi:29;  cf.  also  Ex.  xxvi:31.)  The  idea  of  a  garden  as 
a  symbol  of  luxuriant  fertility  appears  in  several  passages  of 
Scripture  (Gen.  xiiiilO;  Ezek.  xxxi:8;  Ezek.  xxxi:16,  18). 
Most  of  the  allusions  are  based  on  Gen.  ii.  If  the  idea  be 
primitive  Semitic  (and  the  word  'gan'  is  common  to  all  leading 
dialects),  it  may  have  originated  "in  the  sacred  grove  where 
water  and  verdure  are  united,  where  the  fruits  of  the  sacred 

23 


trees  are  taboo,  and  the  wild  animals  are  on  good  terms  with 
man,  because  they  are  not  frightened  away.'55  Such  sacred 
groves  were  common  in  Babylonia,  and  idealization  of  them 
enters  largely  into  religious  literature.  According  to  Sayce,56 
the  Garden  of  Eden  is  the  sacred  garden  of  Ea  at  Eridu. 
Fried.  Delitzsch57  has  based  the  source  of  the  whole  Hebrew 
account  of  Eden  on  the  Babylonian  stories  that  the  country 
to  the  north  of  Babylon  was  the  original  home  of  the  gods. 
Aralu  (the  lower  world)  was  originally  'the  mountain  of 
all  lands/  on  which  the  gods  were  supposed  to  dwell,  the  en- 
trance to  which  was  strongly  guarded.  After  Aralu  came  to 
be  regarded  as  the  abode  of  the  dead,  it  came  to  have  a  dis- 
tinct pantheon  of  its  own.  Nergal,  who  symbolized  the  mid- 
day sun  and  became  the  god  of  violent  destruction  in  general, 
presided  over  this  region  of  horror.  The  attendants  of  Nergal 
are  suggested  by  the  monsters  accompanying  Tiamat.  The 
consort  of  Nergal  was  Allatu,  who  is  warlike  and  ferocious. 
Her  chief  attendants  are  the  terrible  Namtar  (fate)  and  a 
scribe  known  as  Belit-seri.  Tammuz,  who  is  a  god  of  vegeta- 
tion, and  who  was  a  guardian  of  heaven,  is  made  a  part  of  the 
pantheon  of  the  'abode  of  the  dead;'  likewise  Ningishzida,  a 
guardian  of  heaven  originally,  is  now  placed  as  an  attendant 
of  the  court  of  Nergal  and  Allatu.  Besides  these  gods  there 
were  the  demons  who  were  responsible  for  death  in  the  world. 
A  text58  calls  the  entire  group  of  demons  'the  offspring  of 
Aralu — the  sons  and  messengers  of  Namtar,  the  bearers  of  de- 
struction for  Allatu.'  These  demons  are  sent  out  from  Aralu 
to  plague  the  living.  They  do  not  trouble  the  dead,  for  the 
latter  stand  under  the  direct  control  of  the  gods, 

The  legend  of  Aralu  points  back  to  a  time  when  the  land 
was  filled  with  spirits,  good  and  evil,  whom  men  were  obliged 
to  propitiate  in  order  that  the  land  might  be  fertile.59  The 


55  Delitzsch,    Wo    lag   das   Paradies,   303 ;    Barton,    Semitic   Origins, 
page  96. 

56  Sayce,  Higher  Criticism  and  the  Monuments,  95ff. 
67  Delitzsch,  Wo  lag  das  Paradies,  p.  378. 

B8  IV  R  1  col.  1,  12 ;  col.  iii.  8-10. 

69  W.  R.  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  122. 

24 


spirits  of  evil  whom  men  called  'demons/  were  gradually 
driven  by  the  benevolent  gods  to  the  waste  places  and  deserts. 
During  the  agricultural  stage  when  the  land  was  settled  we 
have  discovered  that  the  Babylonian  thought  of  portions  of 
land  as  protected  by  the  'boundary  gods.'  Hence  doubtless 
arose  the  idea  of  the  'Kerubim  guarding  the  way  of  life/  or 
the  gates  of  Paradise. 

60The  legend  of  the  Babylonian  storm  god,  Zu,  who  was 
figured  as  a  bird-deity,  largely  influenced  the  Hebrew  concep- 
tion of  Yahveh  'riding  on  the  storm-cloud.'  Starting  from  this 
clue,  we  can  understand  the  function  of  the  Kerub  as  a  living 
chariot  of  Yahveh,  or  bearer  of  the  Theophany  (Psa.  xviii  ill). 
Zu  at  first  rebels  against  the  authority  of  En-lil  and  endeav- 
ors to  seize  'the  tablets  of  the  gods'  in  his  hand,  establish  his 
throne,  proclaim  laws  and  command  all  the  Igigi.  Ami  prom- 
ises that  if  Ramman,  the  storm -god,  conquers  Zu,  lofty 
shrines  will  be  erected  in  his  honor  in  many  cities. 
Ramman,  however,  is  afraid  of  the  contest.  He  furthermore 
pleads  that  Zu,  who  has  the  tablets  of  fate  in  his  hands,  is 
invincible.  In  view  of  this,  Marduk  undertakes  the  task  and 
successfully  carries  out  the  deed  from  which  the  other  gods 
shrink  in  fear.  The  myth  appears  as  a  pendant  to  the  Mar- 
duk-Tiamat  episode.  The  Zu  myth  accounts  for  the  position 
of  Marduk  as  the  head  of  the  pantheon,  and  represents  the 
subjection  of  all  natural  forces  to  the  supreme  will  of  Mar- 
duk. So  in  the  Kerubim  myth,  Yahveh's  will  is  supreme,  and 
the  storms  and  clouds  are  his  attendants.  The  supremacy  of 
Yahveh  came  about  through  centralization  just  as  in  the  case 
of  Marduk. 

The  conception  of  the  Kerubim  in  the  Book  of  Ezekiel  was 
largely  influenced  by  the  human  bulls  or  sede,  which  we  have 
seen  were  placed  as  attendants  or  guards  at  the  entrance  of 
Assyrian  temples  and  palaces  to  prevent  the  approach  of  evil 
spirits.  These  sede  were  composite  in  character,  the  man,  the 
bull,  the  lion  and  the  eagle,  which  made  up  the  proportions  of 
this  fantastic  beast,  combining  the  various  elements  which  the 


60  Schrader's  Keilinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  vol.  6,  p.  46. 

25 


artist  borrowed  from  nature.  The  artist  did  this  so  as  to  cre- 
ate a  figure  of  harmonious  forms,  in  which  nothing  shocks  the 
taste,  and  the  expression  of  which  is  noble,  majestic  and  nat- 
ural. The  idea  expressed  in  these  bulls  and  lions,  these  im- 
passive and  majestic  sentinels,  is  that  of  calm  physical  strength. 
The  figures  are  of  colossal  proportions,  as  is  fitting  for  gods 
and  heroes.  The  man  represents  the  highest  intellectual  power 
in  divine  creation,  the  bull  and  lion  the  greatest  physical 
strength,  and  the  eagle  the  greatest  swiftness.61  To  us,  who 
are  of  another  civilization,  these  forms  are  neither  grotesque 
nor  unnatural  in  their  fine  and  vigorous  creation  of  Assyrian 
genius,  which  could  as  skilfully  as  the  Egyptian  associate  the 
human  with  the  animal  form  in  the  symbolic  representation  of 
deity  and  of  supernatural  beings.  The  term  sedu,  Heb.  $ed, 
was  applied  to  them  by  the  Assyrians  because  these  creatures 
were  the  symbols  of  divine  power  and  majesty.  Ezekiel  used 
this  symbol  to  picture  the  attendants  of  Yahveh's  throne.  He 
called  them  Kerubim  only  when  Yahveh  told  him  to  do  so.62 
To  the  prophet  they  were  Hayyoth  'living  creatures,'  who 
were  Yahveh's  attendants.  The  conception  was  a  fanciful  one, 
but  we  do  not  know  how  much  was  traditional  and  how  much 
was  original  in  the  mind  of  Ezekiel.  The  prophet  doubtless 
used  his  imagination  very  largely  in  picturing  these  beings 
called  Kerubim,  but  his  conception  is  truly  sublime  and  glori- 
ous. It  may  be  assumed  that  in  the  prophet's  mind  each  detail 
of  the  symbolism  expressed  some  idea,  though  it  may  not  be 
possible  now  to  interpret  the  details  with  certainty.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  firmament  and  throne  represent  Yahveh 
as  God  of  heaven,  God  alone  over  all,  the  omnipotent. 


61  Smend,  Alttestamenttiche  Religionsgeschichte,  p.  447f. 

62  Schultz,  Old  Testament  Theology,  vol.  ii,  p.  233. 

26 


CHAPTER   IV. 
IN  HITTITE,  PERSIAN,  EGYPTIAN  AND  ARAB  ARTS 

The  bulls  and  other  winged  monsters,  placed  at  the  entrance 
of  Assyrian  palaces  also  find  their  parallel  among  the  Hittites.63 
There  is  in  the  Imperial  Museum  at  Constantinople  a  basalt 
lion,  found  at  Marash,  the  head  and  neck  of  which  are  com- 
pletely disengaged  from  the  stone  block.  The  forepaws  are 
even  with  the  front  surface  of  the  wall,  and  the  body  of  the 
beast  is  hidden  from  view.  It  is  sculptured  on  two  sides  of 
the  gate  in  imitation  of  the  Ninevite  bulls.  At  the  village  of 
Boghaz-Keui  there  has  been  discovered  a  royal  palace,  the 
principal  door  of  which  forms  an  independent  structure,  which 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  palace  at  Khorsabad.  Two  lion's  heads, 
original  in  style,  project  on  each  side  of  the  aperture,  above 
monolithic  doorposts.  The  palace  of  Euyuk  presents  features 
that  remind  one  also  of  the  palaces  of  Nineveh.  The  principal 
doorway  is  eleven  feet  broad,  and  on  each  side  stand  two 
sphinxes,  in  place  of  the  human-headed  bulls.  At  Zenjirli  there 
was  found  a  complete  set  of  bas-reliefs  representing  a  man 
struggling  with  a  fantastic  genius.64  At  Rum-Galah,  a  bas- 
relief  represents  a  bearded  personage,  wearing  a  cap  and 
dressed  in  a  long  tunic,  drawn  apart  as  in  imitation  of  the 
drooping  wings  of  Assyrian  genii.  65A  cylinder  at  the 
Louvre,  found  at  Aidin  in  Lydia,  shows  a  scene  of  presenta- 
tion to  a  deity  in  which  is  seen  an  Assyrian  genius  with  two 
faces,  a  deity  sitting  upon  a  throne.  The  idea  represented 
here  has  no  doubt  largely  influenced  the  Hebrew  conception 
of  the  Kerubim.  In  lasili-Kaia  a  rectangular  chamber  has 


63  Babelon,  Manual  of  Oriental  Antiquities,  p.  191. 

64  Perrot  and  Chipiez,  Histoire  de  Vart  dans  I'antiquite,  iv.,  p.  534. 

65  See   Hittite   cylinder   Fig.    167    in    Babelon,    Manual   of   Oriental 
Antiquities,  p.  203. 

27 


been  found  in  a  rock,  the  walls  of  which  are  covered  with  bas- 
reliefs  among  which  are  dog-headed  monsters,  standing  upon 
quadrupeds.  One  such  stands  upon  the  shoulders  of  two  por- 
ters. A  separate  relief66  represents  a  giant  standing  on  two 
mountains,  who  holds  in  his  right  hand  a  shrine,  and  in  his 
left  hand  has  a  sort  of  long  staff,  the  lower  end  of  which  is 
curved  like  a  crosier.  The  shrine  which  this  deity  holds  is 
provided  with  two  columns  supporting  the  winged  disk,  be- 
tween which  is  a  deity,  on  either  side  of  which  is  the  figure 
of  a  bull.  At  some  distance  a  group  of  two  figures  is  observed. 
One  of  them,  of  colossal  proportions,  is  found  standing  upon 
a  quadruped.  The  calm  dignity  of  the  figure  is  impressive. 
Perhaps  here  we  have  the  original  form  of  the  Kerubim.  At 
any  rate  it  is  very  suggestive  of  the  original  form  in  which  the 
older  Hebrews  conceived  them. 

IN  PERSIAN  ART 

The  simplest  type  of  Persian  art  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
interior  halls  of  the  palace  of  Xerxes  at  Persepolis.67  The  col- 
umns are  eighteen  feet  in  diameter  and  the  base  is  formed  of 
two  tauri  placed  one  above  the  other  on  a  square  pedestal.  It 
is  developed  in  a  succession  of  bells  and  inverted  volutes,  above 
which  are  two  bulls'  heads.  In  the  palaces  the  figure  of  Cyrus 
is  shown  furnished  with  wings  like  the  genii  of  Assyria,  and 
these  wings,  with  rows  of  well-marked  feathers,  are  like  those 
of  the  Ninevite  monsters. 

Like  the  porticoes  of  Ninevite  palaces,  those  of  Persepolis 
are  garnished  with  human-headed  bulls,  only,  while  the  Assy- 
rian bulls  are  placed  even  with  the  surface  of  the  facade  and 
facing  one  another  in  the  doorway,  the  Persepolitan  bulls  are 
always  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  opening  and  facing  the 
terrace.  But  the  Persian  artist  shows  himself  superior  to  the 
Assyrian,  because,  while  preserving  the  animals  in  some  fanci- 
ful posture,  he  has  had  the  skill  to  soften  the  modeling  of  the 
limbs,  and  to  give  to  the  wings  a  more  graceful  curve.  The 


<6  See  Figs.  155  and  157  in  Babelon,  Manual  of  Oriental  Antiquities. 
67  Dieulafoy  op.  cit  11,  p.  80. 

28 


t        UN.S 

glyptic  art  and  jewelry  of  the  Persians  was  developed  -along 
conventional  lines.  As  among  the  Assyrians,  it  was  in  the  rep- 
resentation of  animals  that  the  Persian  artist  revealed  his 
genius.  A  winged  and  horned  griffin  found  on  an  engraved  gem 
shows  in  what  fashion  Persian  art  interpreted  the  Assyrian 
Kerubim.  The  monster  has  the  body  and  forepaws  of  a  lion; 
his  hind  legs,  armed  with  powerful  claws,  are  those  of  an  eagle ; 
he  has  the  ears  of  an  ox,  and  the  horns  of  a  wild  goat ;  his  eye, 
face  and  half -open  beak  belong  to  the  falcon ;  a  bristling  mane 
adorns  a  neck  arched  like  that  of  a  horse ;  he  has  a  lion's  tail  ; 
his  great  wings  with  well-marked  feathers  resemble  in  their 
development  those  of  the  Persepolitan  bulls.  We  know  noth- 
ing in  Persian  art  superior  to  this  figure,68  the  symbol  of 
strength  and  power,  in  which  so  many  discordant  elements  are 
combined  with  so  fortunate  a  harmony. 

IN  EGYPTIAN  ART 

The  history  of  the  religious  art  of  Egypt  furnishes  examples 
of  how  primitive  people  guarded  the  approaches  of  their  tem- 
ples by  fantastic  figures  of  animals.69  Thus  at  Karnak,  avenues 
of  sphinxes  and  series  of  pylons  led  up  to  the  various  gates, 
and  formed  triumphal  approaches.  There  were  Andro- 
sphinxes,  combining  the  head  of  a  man  and  the  body  of  a  lion, 
but  other  sphinxes,70  which  united  a  ram's  head  with  a  lion's 
body,  have  also  been  discovered.  Elsewhere,  in  places  where 
the  local  worship  admitted  of  such  substitution,  a  couchant 
ram,  holding  a  statuette  of  the  royal  founder  between  his  bent 
forelegs,  takes  the  place  of  the  conventional  sphinx. 

When  we  turn  to  the  black  granite  sphinxes  discovered  by 
Mariette  at  Tanis  in  186 1,71  and  by  him  ascribed  to  the  Hyksos 
period,  we  see  at  once  a  great  contrast  to  the  traditional  pat- 
tern of  art.  Here  the  idea  of  energy  is  prominent.  Wiry  and 
compact,  the  lion  body  is  shorter  than  in  sphinxes  of  the  usual 
type.  The  head,  instead  of  wearing  the  conventional  head- 

68  See  De  Luynes  bas-relief,  Fig.  148. 

69  Maspero,  Egyptian  Archaeology,  p.  84. 

70  Maspero,  Figs.  91  and  92. 

71  Maspero,  Egyptian  Archaeology,  fig.  191,  p.  221. 

29 


gear  of  folden  linen,  is  clothed  with  an  ample  mane,  which  also 
surrounds  the  face.  The  eyes  are  small,  the  nose  is  aquiline 
and  depressed  at  the  tip,  and  the  lower  lip  slightly  protrudes. 
The  general  type  of  the  face  is,  in  short,  so  unlike  those  we 
are  accustomed  to  find  in  Egypt,  that  it  has  been  accepted  in 
proof  of  an  Asiatic  origin. 

During  the  first  three  dynasties  of  the  New  Empire,72 
sphinxes,  colossi  and  statues  are  counted  in  large  number,  in 
which  the  modeling  is  finer,  the  figures  are  better  grouped,  and 
the  relief  is  higher.  Awakening  to  a  sense  of  the  picturesque, 
artists  introduced  into  their  figures  all  the  details  of  architec- 
ture, which  formerly  they  had  neglected.  The  taste  for  the 
colossi,  which  had  fallen  somewhat  into  abeyance  since  the 
early  time  of  the  Great  Sphinx,  was  developed  anew.  In 
western  Thebes  before  the  temples  of  Luxor  and  Karnak, 
avenues  of  sphinxes  have  been  found,  which  reach  to  the  gate- 
way of  the  sacred  enclosure.  In  one  avenue  they  have  a  human 
head  upon  a  lion's  body,  and  in  another,  they  are  fashioned  in 
the  semblance  of  kneeling  rams. 

IN  ARAB  ART 

Among  cylinders  with  Sabean  inscriptions  is  one  which  has 
long  been  known,  made  of  bluish  chalcedony,  the  design  of 
which  shows  in  the  center  a  god,  corresponding  to  the  Syrian 
and  Assyrian  Adad,73  with  a  square  hat,  with  a  long  garment, 
and  with  bows  and  quivers  rising  from  his  shoulders.  One 
hand  is  raised  to  receive  his  worshipper,  and  the  other  carries  a 
thunderbolt.  At  his  foot  is  the  bull  of  Adad.  Behind  him  is 
the  figure  presumably  of  a  corresponding  goddess.  Miiller74 
thinks  that  the  characters  are  rather  Lihyanian  than  Sabean. 
The  style  of  the  figures  is  much  like  that  of  the  age  of  Assur- 
bani-pal,  c.  625  B.  C.  The  figure  of  the  god  shows  the  strong 
muscles  of  the  leg  and  knee.  As  it  was  found  at  Anah,  north 
of  Babylon,  the  desert  tribes  may  at  this  early  period  have  re- 
ceived the  Sabean  writing. 


72  The  Eighteenth,  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth. 

73  Wm.  Hayes  Ward,  The  Seal  Cylinders  of  Western  Asia,  p.  351. 
7*  Quoted  by  Ward. 

30 


Another  cylinder  is  broken,  but  fortunately  the  important 
part  is  preserved.75  The  design  shows  a  god  seizing  a  lion  with 
each  hand,  upon  whose  back  is  a  magnificent  bird,  with  the 
neck  of  a  swan,  or  peacock  and  with  an  exaggerated  crest. 

Hommel78  has  recognized  a  Sabean  inscription  on  a  cylinder, 
the  central  figure  of  which  is,  as  he  correctly  explains  it,  a 
goddess  writh  quivers  on  her  shoulders,  corresponding  to  the 
Assyrian  representations  of  Ishtar,  and  each  side  of  her,  as  if 
supporting  her,  is  a  winged  male  figure  of  a  subsidiary  deity, 
such  as  we  find  in  Assyrian  art  about  a  sacred  tree.  Hommel 
has  recognized  the  inscription  of  three  letters,  which  he  reads 
as  Shahr,  the  moongod  of  South  Arabia. 

Still  another  cylinder77  has  three  long-skirted,  bearded  per- 
sonages, of  whom  two  appear  to  be  in  adoration  before  some 
deity.  Before  the  deity  is  an  inscription  of  five  Sabean  letters 
above  which  is  a  rude  winged  disk. 

Very  peculiar  is  a  cylinder78  which  shows  a  beardless  figure, 
with  two  profile  heads  facing  in  the  same  direction,  with  wings 
rising  from  the  shoulders.  Next  is  a  similar  figure,  except  that 
instead  of  human  heads  it  has  two  antelope  or  goat  heads.  It 
seizes  a  lion  by  the  tail  with  one  hand,  and  with  the  other 
hand  grasps  the  hand  of  a  composite  figure,  the  lower  part  of 
which  is  a  lion  and  the  upper  part  a  beardless  human 
figure.  Next  is  a  third  figure  with  the  same  garments  as  the 
other  two,  but  having  two  birds'  heads  and  carrying  in  the 
arms  two  lions.  They  are  not,  as  might  at  first  be  supposed 
from  the  way  they  are  carried,  goats  for  sacrifice. 

Some  scholars  believe  that  to  the  Arabs  was  due  the  origin 
of  the  prevalent  winged  figures  that  came  into  use  later  in 
Assyria  and  Syro-Hittite  regions.  But  we  are  inclined  to  the 
belief  that  these  early  ideas  were  held  in  common  by  the  Baby- 
lonians and  Sabeans.  The  number  of  Sabean  cylinders  is  so 
small  that  it  is  difficult  to  trace  any  marked  development  in 
the  art  of  representing  these  fantastic  beings. 

75  Fig.  1208  in  Cylinders  of  Western  Asia. 

76  Hommel,  Die  Siidarabischen  Altertiimer,  p.  32. 

77  Fig.  1211  in  Seal  Cylinders  of  Western  Asia. 

78  Fig.  1212  in  Seal  Cylinders  of  Western  Asia. 

31 


CHAPTER  V. 
IN  GREEK  ART 

That  the  idea  of  the  gryps  or  griffin,  partly  a  lion  and  partly 
an  eagle,  had  some  connection  with  the  Hebrew  Kerub 
has  been  mentioned  by  Fried.  Delitzsch,79  who  also  traces 
the  word  from  the  Assyrian  kirubu.  It  is  better,  however, 
to  derive  the  Greek  word  gryps  from  the  Indo-Germanic 
root  grabh,  meaning  to  'claw'  (Ger.  greiferi).  The  idea  of 
the  gryps  was  evidently  derived  from  the  Persian.  The  es- 
sential idea  of  the  griffin  is  the  union  of  the  two  most  power- 
ful animals  of  the  air  and  land — the  eagle  and  lion.  On  vases 
from  ancient  Rhodes  figures  of  the  griffin  appear.  Copies  of 
the  original  specimens  at  Berlin  may  be  seen  in  Roscher's  'Lexi- 
kon  der  Griechischen  und  Romischen  Mythologie/  The  griffin 
is  depicted  standing  between  two  deer,  which  are  quietly  graz- 
ing. The  wings  are  not  quite  lifted  up  as  in  other  specimens. 
In  one  figure  we  see  two  griffins  facing  each  other,  and  sitting 
on  their  hind  legs  with  their  wings  entirely  raised.  This  is 
the  archaic  form.  Of  special  importance  are  the  figures  on 
coins,  which  repeatedly  show  that  the  primitive  Greek  form 
of  the  griffin  had  its  origin  in  Asia  Minor.  In  its  complete 
form80  of  both  body  and  head,  we  only  possess  representations 
discovered  on  coins  from  Asia  Minor.  What  is  especially  to 
be  noted  are  the  gold  coins,  on  which  the  head  of  the  griffin 
with  a  human  breast  appears.  On  coins  of  the  fourth  century 
the  griffin  is  represented  as  running.  On  the  coins  struck  by 
the  municipal  authorities  of  Abdera  we  find  the  form  of  a  grif- 
fin. The  wings  which  are  not  raised  have  a  natural  appear- 
ance, but  on  the  whole  the  representation  is  not  that  of  the 


**  Parodies,  p.  I50f. 

80  Roscher,  Lexikon  der  Griechischen  und  Romischen  Mythologie,  vol. 
ii,  p.  1742. 

32 


archaic  type.  For  instance,  we  have  the  griffin  in  the  act  of 
leaping  with  his  fore-paws  raised. 

Heads  of  griffin  were  found  in  a  grave  at  Samos,  but  un- 
fortunately no  inscriptions  are  attached.  In  a  grave  at  Prae- 
neste  there  were  discovered  small  ivory  bust  figures,  similar 
to  those  found  in  Assyria.  The  workmanship  we  can  recog- 
nize with  assurance  as  either  Assyrian  or  Phoenician. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  in  Attica  the  Persian  winged  lions 
were  not  unknown,  for  specimens  of  vases  have  come  down 
to  us  on  which  a  wild  animal  is  represented  accompanied  by 
a  real  griffin.  In  another  specimen,  a  man  dressed  in  Persian 
style  holds  two  such  animals,  which  are  standing  on  their 
hind  legs. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Greek  form  of  these  animals  or  Keru- 
bim  were  nothing  more  than  representations  of  Oriental  origi- 
nals. 


33 


CHAPTER  VI. 
GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS 

We  have  thus  far  explained  the  historical  development  of 
the  Kerubim  among  the  Semitic  and  Greek  people.81  We  have 
traced  the  ideas  of  the  Kerub  through  all  the  periods  of  Israeli- 
tish  religion.82  It  is  now  important  that  we  definitely  realize  the 
primitive  view  of  the  universe  out  of  which  grew  the  concep- 
tion of  the  Kerubim.  83It  dates  from  a  time  when  men  had  not 
learned  to  draw  sharp  distinctions  between  cause  and  effect. 
Thus  we  know  that  to-day  savages  are  quite  incapable  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  phenomenal  and  noumenal  existence.  For 
example,  arguing  altogether  from  analogy  they  almost  invar- 
iably ascribe  to  all  animals  and  even  to  material  objects  a  life 
analogous  to  their  own.84  This  same  lack  of  sharp  distinction 
between  the  nature  of  different  kinds  of  visible  beings  appears 
in  the  oldest  myths.  The  kinship  between  gods  and  men  is 
only  a  part  of  a  larger  kinship  which  embraces  the  lower  crea- 
tion. Myths  connecting  both  men  and  gods  with  animals, 
plants  and  rocks  are  found  all  over  the  world  and  were  not 
lacking  among  the  Semites.85 

To  the  same  stage  of  thought  belong  the  stories  of  transfor- 
mations of  men  into  animals,  which  are  not  infrequent  in  Ara- 
bian legend.  Thus  Mohammed  would  not  eat  lizards  because 
he  fancied  them  to  be  the  offspring  of  a  metamorphosed  clan 
of  Israelites.86  Maqrizi87  relates  of  the  Seicar  in  Hadramaut 
that  in  the  time  of  a  drought,  part  of  the  tribe  changed  them- 


81  See  chapters  iii,  iv,  v. 

82  See  chapter  i. 

83  Leuba,  The  Psychological  Origin  and  Nature  of  Religion,  p.  21. 

84  Frazer,  Totemism  and  Exogamy,  vol.  I,  p.  94f . 

85  W.  R.  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  42ff. 
86Damiri,  ii  :87   (cf.  Doughty,  i:326). 

87 De  Valle  Hadramaut  (Bonn  1866)  p.  19f. 

34 


selves  into  wolves ;  that  they  had  a  magical  means  of  assuming 
and  casting  off  the  wolf  shape.  In  the  same  anthropomorphic 
spirit  is  conceived  the  Assyrian  myth  which  includes  the  lion, 
eagle  and  war-horse  among  the  lovers  of  Ishtar. 

In  the  region  of  plastic  art  the  absence  of  any  sharp  line  of 
distinction  between  gods  and  men  and  lower  creation  is  dis- 
played in  the  marked  predilection  for  fantastic  monsters,  half 
human,  half  bestial.88  In  the  late  discovery  at  Carchemish89  a 
form  appears  of  a  fierce  beast  of  prey  seated  in  calm  dignity 
like  an  irresistible  guardian  of  holy  things.  This  is  the  same 
form  which  was  adopted  by  various  nations,  such  as  the  Hit- 
tites,  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Greeks.  The  earliest  Hebrew 
Kerub  came  nearest  to  this  idea  of  the  griffin. 

The  association  of  the  winged  figures  with  the  Tree  of  life  in 
Babylonian  art  would  naturally  lead  to  the  belief  that  the 
Kerubim  were  denizens  of  Paradise.  These  winged  genii  are 
usually  human  in  form  with  human  heads.90  They  are  doubt- 
less the  personification  of  the  winds,  by  whose  agency  the  fer- 
tilization of  the  palm-tree,  the  most  important  Oriental  product, 
is  effected  by  nature.  Thence  they  came  to  be  regarded  as 
guardians  of  sacred  things  and  places  generally. 

The  function  of  the  Kerub  as  the  living  chariot  of  Yahveh  or 
bearer  of  the  Theophany  was  largely  influenced  by  the  Baby- 
lonian myth  of  the  storm-god  Zu,  who  is  figured  as  a  bird 
deity.  From  the  analogy  of  all  Semitic  religious  symbols  the 
Kerub  was  primarily  the  black  thunder  cloud,  which  served 
both  as  a  vehicle  and  a  weapon  of  the  tempest-god.  When 
the  Hebrews  wished  to  represent  the  presence  of  Yahveh  as 
resting  at  Jerusalem,  they  had  no  hesitation  in  frankly  adopting 
this  well-known  Semitic  symbol,  and  making  for  their  god 
a  throne  over  which  these  Kerubim  spread  their  covering  wings. 
Ezekiel  based  his  description  on  actually  existing  works  of  art. 
His  figure  is  complicated,  prompted  undoubtedly  by  the  con- 
sideration that  beings  which  must  ever  go  forward  needed 


88  King,  The  Development  of  Religion,  p.  247. 

89  See  chapter  iii  above. 

90  Chapter  iii,  p.  20. 

35 


to  have  a  face  on  every  side.  It  seems  quite  clear  that  Eze- 
kiel  borrowed  his  ideas  from  the  winged  bulls  familiar  to  us 
from  Assyrian  art. 

We  come  across  many  representations  of  winged  monsters 
and  chimaeras  in  the  countries  adjoining  Palestine.  91The 
famous  monster  represented  on  the  tomb  of  the  Egyptian  king, 
Chuecu-hotep  (c.  2100  B.  C.)  shows  a  leopard  from  whose 
back  issues  a  human  head,  with  wings  on  either  side  of  the 
neck.  This  is  an  attempt  to  combine  the  attributes  of  strength 
and  swiftness  in  animals  with  the  intellect  of  man,  in  repre- 
sentation of  the  daimon  spirits.  Ezekiel's  description  of 
the  Kerub  is  more  detailed  than  anything  that  we  possess.  The 
question  is  whether  the  development  seen  in  Ezekiel  was  a 
radical  departure  from  the  original  Kerub-concept  of  the  pure- 
ly animal  griffin.  Riehm92  thinks  that  Ezekiel's  conception  of 
these  composite  beings  was  in  the  shape  of  winged  human 
forms  and  in  favor  of  this  view  much  can  be  said.  Kerubim 
are  found  in  the  temple  alternating  with  lions  and  oxen; 
hence  it  would  seem  that  they  were  conceived  in  a  form  other 
than  animal.  In  the  temple  and  in  the  tabernacle  they  arc 
standing  upright,  with  two  wings  and  one  face.  It  might 
seem  then  that  they  were  meant  to  be  winged  men.  Moreover, 
even  in  Ezekiel  the  principal  face  is  that  of  a  man.  But 
Riehm's  view,  while  in  many  particulars  reasonable,  seems  to 
be  somewhat  overdrawn.  The  Kerub  of  Ezekiel  was,  of  course, 
largely  a  product  of  the  Prophet's  imagination  combined  with 
the  characteristics  of  the  ancient  Semitic  Kerub,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  for  Ezekiel  to  have  made  his  description  more  com- 
posite than  the  accepted  ideal,  so  as  to  suit  the  purpose  of  his 
apocalyptic  description.  Thus  he  could  have  thought  out  a 
figure,  the  body  of  which  had  the  feet  of  an  ox,  the  wings  of  an 
eagle,  the  mane  of  a  lion,  and  then  have  anthropomorphized  it 
sufficiently  to  give  it  four  human  faces.  But  it  is  not  natural  to 
suppose  that  he  made  out  a  purely  human  figure,  with  wings,  to 
which  he  would  apply  the  term  Hayyoth.  In  the  O.T.  the  Kerub 


91  See  Pietschmann,  Gesch.  der  Phonizier,  pp.  176,  177. 

92  See  Handworterbuch  des  Biblischen  Aliertums,  vol.  I,  p.  271. 

36 


is,  from  the  first,  represented  as  something  well  known — as 
something  that  had  lived  on  in  the  popular  belief  since  the 
earliest  days.  Absolutely  nothing  is  said  as  to  how  the  repre- 
sentations are  to  be  executed.  That  is  simply  left  to  the  artist. 
This  fact  explains  the  extraordinary  figures  such  as  sphinxes, 
winged  bulls,  etc.,  which  could  be  readily  made  by  any  one 
in  the  usual  traditional  form.  Besides,  as  ornaments  for  the 
sanctuary,  and  its  layers,  animal  figures  were  more  in  keeping 
with  the  oxen,  lions,  palms  and  flower  wreaths,  than  winged 
men.  In  addition,  the  passage93  Ezek.  x:14  can  only  mean 
that  ox  and  Kerub  were  practically  identical. 

At  a  still  later  time  the  Kerubim  were  spoken  of  by  poets  and 
others,  as  symbols  of  natural  forces.  The  forces  of  nature 
were  alike  Yahveh's  guards  and  ministers.  Mythology  became 
a  special  study  and  its  details  acquired  new  meanings,  and  the 
Kerub-myih  thus  passed  into  an  entirely  new  phase.  The  gen- 
eral character  of  the  Maccabean  psalms  agrees  also  with  Eze- 
kiel's  conception.  Here  the  Kerub  is  the  divine  chariot  and  has 
some  relation  to  the  storm-wind  and  storm-cloud.  In  two  pas- 
sages,94 as  we  have  seen,  there  appears  to  be  a  new  conception 
where  the  Kerubim  are  Yahveh's  throne.  It  may  be,  however, 
that  the  expression  'enthroned  upon  the  Kerubim'  is  merely  a 
condensed  phrase  for  'seated  on  the  throne  guarded  by  Keru- 
bim/ 

In  the  passage  Ps.  xxii  :3  where  Yahveh  is  described  as  being 
'enthroned  upon  the  praises  of  Israel'  the  idea  agrees  with 
later  Jewish  belief  regarding  angels  and  is  evidently  the  work 
of  a  priestly  theorist. 

The  Israelites  in  the  early  period  never  doubted  the  actual 
existence  of  such  beings.  Kerubim  are  imaginary  beings  of  a 
religious  nature,  represented,  as  was  the  custom  among  all  an- 
cient peoples,  in  a  very  real  way.  They  are  not  angels,  but 
symbolical  figures  of  another  order.  They  are  products  of  re- 
ligious imagination,  which  belong  to  that  large  class  of  beings 
with  which,  from  of  old,  the  religious  imagination  of  the 


93  Unless  we  assume  that  there  is  a  textual  error. 

94  Psalms  Ixxx.i,  xcix.l. 

37 


Semites  had  peopled  the  spiritual  world.  When  foreign  lands 
were  brought  into  connection  with  Israel  or  became  politically 
subject  to  Israel's  God,  these  foreign  deities  came  to  be  popu- 
larly regarded  as  subordinate  demons,  who  carried  out  the  will 
of  Yahveh.  To  Israel's  prophets,  however,  there  was  only  one 
God — Yahveh — but  when  the  popular  religion  was  slow  in 
surrendering  the  early  beliefs  in  'demons'  and  local  gods, 
even  the  prophets  were  apt  to  regard  these  beings  as  subordi- 
nate deities.95  We  have  seen  as  regards  ancient  South  Arabia 
that  the  idea  of  human  and  divine  kinship  was  so  deeply  rooted 
that  it  completely  dominated  the  practical  side  of  religion  and 
that  this  conception  was  a  ruling  one  even  after  men  ceased  to 
worship  deities  that  were  not  originally  their  own.  Among  the 
Semites  as  among  other  people,  if  the  tribal  deity  was  thought 
of  as  the  parent  of  the  stock,  a  goddess,  not  a  god,  would  have 
been  the  object  of  worship.96  So  long  as  kinship  was  traced 
through  the  mother  alone,  a  male  deity  could  only  be  the  cousin 
of  the  tribe.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  kingship  of  Yahveh  is 
never  set  forth  in  a  way  to  suggest  the  idea  that  divine  kingship 
was  peculiar  to  the  Hebrews.  On  the  contrary,  other  nations  are 
the  kingdoms  of  the  false  gods.97  Hence  at  a  later  date,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  suppose  that  the  kingship  of  the  supreme  deity  means  his 
sovereignty  over  other  gods,  because  all  social  fusion  between 
two  communities  tended  to  bring  about  a  religious  fusion  also. 
Sometimes  two  gods  were  themselves  fused  into  one,  as  when 
the  Israelites  in  their  local  Yahveh-cult  identified  him  with  the 
Baalim  of  the  Canaanite  high  places.98  This  process  was  great- 
ly facilitated  by  the  extreme  similarity  in  the  attributes  ascribed 
to  different  local  gods.  The  old  Semites  believed  in  the  exis- 
tence of  many  gods,  for  they  accepted  as  real  the  gods  of  their 
enemies  as  well  as  their  own.  As  the  small  groups  coalesced 
into  larger  unities,  a  society  and  kinship  of  many  gods  began 


95  See  Prof.  C.  H.  Toy's  article,  "Polytheism  in  Genesis  as  a  mark 
of  Date,"  Essays  in  Modern  Theology  and  Related  Subjects,  pp.  1-12, 
Briggs  Memorial  Volume. 

96  See  W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  52. 

97  Isa.  x  :10. 

98  See  Judges,  ch.  i. 


to  be  formed.  A  systematic  hierarchy  of  local  deities  is  due 
to  the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  influences,"  the  labours  of 
statesmen  to  build  up  a  consolidated  empire  out  of  a  multitude 
of  local  communities  were  always  seconded  by  the  priests, 
whose  tendency  was  to  give  a  certain  unity  of  scheme  to  the 
multiplicity  of  local  worships.100  The  same  tendency  is  also 
found  in  S.  Arabia  among  the  early  Yemenites.  In  other 
words  the  tendency  was  plainly  towards  a  unification  of  a  num- 
ber of  henotheistic  systems,  a  unification  which  if  left  untram- 
meled,  would  have  probably  produced  more  than  one  mono- 
theism. 

From  the  earliest  days  the  holy  God — Yahveh — was  pictured 
by  the  Hebrews  as  descending  to  earth  and  resting  in  the  tem- 
ple and  they  did  not  hesitate  to  use  the  figures  of  these  'mons- 
trous beings'  or  'demi-gods'  and  represent  them  as  the  servants 
and  attendants  of  Yahveh.  Hence  when  Ezekiel  thinks  of 
Yahveh  as  coming  in  judgment,  or  as  bestowing  upon  Israel  a 
new  proof  of  his  gracious  presence,  he  again  sees  this  god 
seated  upon  his  throne  and  borne  to  earth  by  the  Kerubim.  And 
thus  whenever  Yahveh's  sacred  treasures  had  to  be  guarded 
and  hidden,  the  Hebrews  naturally  thought  of  these  beings  as 
symbols  of  Yahveh's  presence  and  of  his  unapproachable 
majesty. 


.•  » 

!  *•* 


99  In  the  West,  where  kingship  succumbed,  the  tendency  was  toward 
a  large  pantheon. 

100  See  chapter  iii. 

39 


LIFE. 

Born  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  March  14,  1866,  and  prepared  for  col- 
lege at  the  High  School  of  that  city.  Graduated  from  Yale  in 
1889  receiving  the  degree  of  B.A.  Was  Teacher  of  Classics 
for  three  years  after  graduation,  at  the  High  School,  Troy,  N. 
Y.,  and  entered  Yale  Divinity  School  in  1892;  graduated  in 
1894.  Received  M.  A.  from  Yale  University  June,  1903.*  Was 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Charlotte,  N.  Y.,  for  ten 
years,  of  the  Grace  Presbyterian  church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  for 
two  years,  and  assistant  pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian 
church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.  Entered  as  a  graduate  student  of 
Columbia  in  Oct.,  1909. 


40 


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